


Steal My Heart

by bangles25



Category: SHINee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, M/M, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-07
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-10 23:36:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3307370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bangles25/pseuds/bangles25
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One would think in a world where everyone had a soul mate, and a clear way to know how, that there would be more peace, because what's more wonderful than love? How wonderful it is to know that somewhere out there, at that very minute is a person intended for you. Or maybe that is too optimistic. Maybe love can't change the world. Maybe there was no way it could have prevented the nuclear holocaust that befell that sweet little world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Heavily inspired by Fallout 3.

_One would think in a world where everyone had a soul mate, and a clear way to know how, that there would be more peace, because what's more wonderful than love? How wonderful it is to know that somewhere out there, at that very minute is a person intended for you. Or maybe that is too optimistic. Maybe love can't change the world. Maybe there was no way it could have prevented the nuclear holocaust that befell that sweet little world._

_Humans are strong, a lot stronger than they believe they are. Many of them were able to survive through the nuclear holocaust. When the dust settled, the world they once knew was gone, and in it's place, a barren wasteland with scorched remnants of the past._

_But soul mates still remained. Love still remained. It was buried deeply, beneath death, murder, rape, kidnapping and torture, but it was still there. Its tiny heart still glowing, albeit dimly, but glowing none the less, still pumping weakly, refusing to perish. So when those two people who were destined to be together met, the hearts pumped faster, glowed brighter, and the person's chest, right over that powerful muscle, would glow red, and the closer they got to each other, the brighter it grew, until finally, the two people touched, and the glow would dim to something barely noticeable._

 

Jinki's hands shook slightly as he worked the bobby pin in the lock, wiggling carefully until he heard a series of clicks. He grinned to himself as he pulled the lid off of the metal crate. Inside was two cans of Spam and a box of shotgun shells. He put the shotgun shells in his duffel bag, and one of the cans of Spam. He dragged a chair into the corner of the room, keeping his duffel bag close and his shotgun closer, then sat down and opened the can of Spam.

He ate slowly, wanting to savor the flavor of the processed meat, the feel of real food in his mouth. He hadn't felt well the past week, and had been forced to stay in hiding. His food supply had already been running low, and before the week was over, he'd run out, even after carefully rationing it all.

When he woke up with the sun, he was feeling better, so he quickly went to scavenge for food. He'd happened upon a mostly still in tact house. It was small, with boards over the windows, a countless number of dead bugs littering the floors and counter tops, and stunk of a dead animal that he couldn't find. But the bed upstairs wasn't too gross, and behind the house was a small pond, and Jinki thought with some careful booby-trapping he could make it his permanent home.

He finished the can of Spam and desperately wanted to rip into the other can, but thought better of it. He lifted his duffel bag over his shoulder and headed back up the stairs. When he'd first gotten into the house, he'd only gone around checking for other people, then he'd gone straight to the kitchen to try and find food. Upstairs had been a room full of metal crates and he was excited to get them all open.

Once he made it into the room, he put his duffel bag down in a corner facing the door and sat down, pulling a few crates closer to him. The first one he reached for had a rusty lock, and he dug a wrench out of his bag to slam it against the lock. After a few head rattling clangs, the lock broke off, and Jinki dropped the wrench and pulled the lid off.

Junk, the crate was full of junk. Wanting to double check, he tipped the box over, then set it aside, planning on putting all the junk back in. An empty tin can, a handful of coins that were useless. No one used money anymore, everything was done by trading. The only ones interested in things like coins were history preservers, and they would give a lot of good things for it. With that thought in mind, he put them in his pocket. He didn't know how much the coins were worth back when they were still used, but he figured he could still get a couple bottles of water-clean water- for them.

Realizing not everything in the crate was junk he reached over for another one, this one unlocked. He dumped everything out in that one too, then set that crate next to the other one. He riffled through the contents of the crates, throwing junk in one crate, and stuff worth selling or keeping in the other. He'd decide which stuff he'd keep later.

By the time he got through the contents of the first two crates, his 'good' crate had only four things in it: a half full bottle of soap, a pair of sunglasses, a drinking glass and a round circular piece of plastic with a hole in the middle inside a small container also made of plastic. Jinki was pretty sure it was called a 'compact disc,' but he wasn't sure. If it was, he was sure he could get quite a bit for it.

Reaching out, he grabbed two more crates by their latches and dragged them towards him. One had a lock on it, the other didn't. He pulled the lid off the unlocked one first and gasped. He couldn't imagine why it was left unlocked. It was full of bottles of coca cola. He hadn't had the sweet syrupy goodness in so long, and now he had a whole crate full of it. He counted 12 bottles. He put the lid back on and pushed it behind himself so it was hidden then dug through his pocket for a bobby pin.

Just as he was about to put the pin in the lock he heard movement from down stairs. He dropped the pin and reached for his shotgun. He heard footsteps and the squeak of the ancient stairs and picked up the gun, standing up slowly as he readied himself for a fight.

Around the corner came a man, looking to be about the same age as Jinki, dressed in shredded black jeans, combat boots and a grungy gray vest, a large backpack slung over his shoulders. One side of his head was buzzed short, the other side cut short, and the top longer, flipped to the side with short hair. It was an interesting cut and somehow flattering. Most importantly, he had a machine gun in his hands.

"I don't want any trouble," Jinki said firmly, pointing the gun at the man, his sight aimed at the....glowing red spot on the man's chest. He glanced down to see his own chest glowing, then looked back up to see the man staring at his own chest.

"Oh my god," Jinki said.

The other man glanced up. He looked angry and pointed his gun at Jinki. "What'd you do to me?" He glanced around, looking for a second person who could have aimed a laser sight at him.

"What are you talking about?" Jinki asked.

"The fuck is this!" He yelled, then noticed Jinki had one too. "The fuck! You got one too?" He twisted around, looking for the source of the glow.

"You don't know what it is do you?" Jinki asked.

"What what is?"

"The glow, on our chests," Jinki smiled softly and slowly walked closer to the man, both of their glows growing stronger. The other man backed up until he hit a wall. "I'm not gonna hurt you," Jinki said. "What's your name?"

"K-Key,"

"Key," Jinki repeated, "I'm Jinki." He held his hand out towards Key.

"What is it?" Key asked, watching as Jinki's hand inched closer to him.

"It's the soul mate glow," Jinki said.

"Soul mate glow?"

Jinki nodded, "Watch." He pressed his open palm against Key's shoulder and instantly the glow on their chests dimmed to almost nothing. "It's called a soul mate glow, and it happens when you see your soul mate, and when you get closer to the person it gets brighter, that way in case there is more than one person glowing around you, you know who to go towards."

Key raised his eyebrows. "Are you high?"

Jinki laughed. "No really. Back before the bomb, it used to be something every one knew. I heard that most people knew about it from when they were little kids."

"then why did it go away?" Key asked.

"Because I touched you. The glow is only so we can identify each other. Once we've touched each other we don't need it anymore."

Key nodded slowly, while glancing around. "So then we stick together?"

Jinki shrugged. "I don't know. It's not always very smart to team up with someone you just met,"

"Well then. I guess next time I see you I won't shoot you then." Key shrugged and walked past Jinki, then headed down the stairs, feeling oddly disappointed about how the situation ended.

Jinki watched as he disappeared down the stairs and didn't move until he heard the door shut, then walked back into the room full of crates. He sat back down in his previous spot and picked up the bobby pin to work on the crate he was about to open before Key showed up.

He groaned in frustration as the bobby pin snapped. He couldn't focus, all he could think about was how disappointed Key had looked. He shook his head and pulled another bobby pin out of his pocket. It was stupid to worry about that. Only an idiot would just hook up with a stranger, give them access to food, weapons, water. You could easily be robbed and killed. Key didn't even know what it was so why would he even care? He probably just wanted to use it to his advantage. Jinki didn't necessarily blame him, they lived in a dangerous world, you had to do what you could to protect yourself sometimes.

Outside, Kibum stood in front of the house and bent down, retying the laces in his worn leather boots. He straightened himself and went North, walking down what used to be a highway, headed towards Fossfeck, a city where he did a lot of trading and also considered home base. He wouldn't reach it until the following day, sometime in the afternoon, but he hoped to get through the tiny town of Niska before dark. Going through Niska was the only way to get to Fossfeck without taking an extra three days and a substantially large amount of radiation exposure, plus the threat of scavengers.

Niska was a strange little town that had five little shacks. During the day it was easy to run past all five of them, but at night, the creatures inside of the shacks came outside. Key wasn't sure what they were. They were monsters the radiation created, they walked upright like humans, and were about the same size too, but they had talons and razor sharp teeth, and they were hard to kill. Key had to empty a magazine into each one to bring it down. They were fast, and Key had learned the hard way how sharp their talons were.

He'd made it about a hundred yards and then stopped. Jinki had seemed so excited about the stupid soul mates thing, but then rejected him, didn't even want to be friends. Every one needed a friend, especially when the world was so lonely and scary. He understood Jinki's line of thinking, he really did. He'd met plenty of scavengers who would sell their own mother for three cans of spam and a pair of shoes. But to even reject the notion of friendship? He somehow felt led on.

He turned around and headed back towards the house he'd found Jinki in. He flung the door open and stomped up the stairs. Jinki heard the door open and reached for his gun again, then sighed when Key appeared in the doorway. "Hey you're back."

Key nodded. "So what the fuck?"

"Huh?"

"What the fuck." Key said again, stepping into the room. He walked towards Jinki and sat his bag down, then sat down against a connecting wall of the corner Jinki was in, keeping himself between his bag and the other man. "You act all excited about the soul mate thing, but then you don't even want to be friends?"

"Key, surely you understand that-"

Key cut him off. "Look, I know it's dangerous to trust people. I almost got killed by a small group of scavengers who treated me like family. They took everything I had and left me to die. I'm not stupid. But why can't we be friends? Get to know each other. That soul mate thing seems pretty special, isn't it kind of dumb to ignore it?"

"Nothing is going to happen if we ignore it Key. We won't die or anything." Jinki spoke with a condescending tone.

Key reached forward and pulled a crate between his legs, then pulled the lid off and began going through it. Jinki stared at him wide eyed as Key glanced at his 'good' and 'bad' crates, and then began putting stuff from his crate into the appropriate crates. "This is all mine," Jinki said slowly.

Key nodded. "I know, but you'll get through it faster if you have someone helping." He paused his sorting, a small plastic container filled with small crafting supplies in his hand. "What would you want for this?"

Jinki held his hand out and Key handed it to him. He took the lid off and looked through it. A couple needles, some thread, beads, buttons, safety pins, a ball of wire, and a pair of tiny clippers. The only thing that looked useful to him was the needle and thread. "You want all of it? Not just the good stuff?"

"It's all good stuff," Kibum said. He picked up his bag and unzipped it, then pulled a black denim jacket out of it. He unfolded it and held it out in front of him, showing Jinki the front. The pockets had been decorated with buttons and small beads, creating pretty geometric patterns.

Jinki thought it was nice, but kind of stupid and unneeded. "It's nice but what's the point?"

"Gives it some personality. It's nice to decorate things sometimes." he folded the jacket back up as Jinki spoke.

"Well, what are you willing to give me?"

Key set the jacket aside and dug through his bag. "Most of my really good stuff is locked up at Fossfeck, fuck."

Jinki looked up then. "You know how to get to Fossfeck?"

"yeah," Key glanced over at Jinki, "you don't?"

Jinki shook his head. "No, I don't have a clue. I know it's north somewhere but that's all."

"I could take you, but you know, that would require us working together. And it's a long ways, we'd probably get there tomorrow, sometime in the afternoon or evening."

"Geeze, I didn't know it was that far,"

Key nodded, looking back down into his bag to try and find something to trade for the buttons and beads. "Yeah, and it's best to get through Niska before night fall. Once it's dark rad-monsters come out."

"So?" Jinki replied dumbly. Most of the rad-monsters were easy to kill, a pop or two between the eyes and they were done. He didn't even need a bullet for some of them, he just kicked them in the face and they were done.

"These aren't your typical rad-monsters. These ones are big, about the same size as you and me, some even bigger. They walk on two legs but they're really fast, they have talons and really sharp teeth. Takes about a whole magazine in my gun to take one down, and sometimes that doesn't kill them, just knock 'em out."

"Jesus," Jinki mumbled. "So then I take it it's true? The further north you get the worse the radiation damage?"

"Eh," Key waved his hand in the air in a non committal gesture. "Yes and no. Niska is kind of bad, compared to what you got here, but it's small, and once you get through there, you're back to one shot rad-monsters and rabid dogs. Huddersfield and past that is where it's the worst I think. Huddersfield is a few miles to the west of Fossfeck. Some city way past Huddersfield is where they say one of the bombs dropped, so that's where it's really bad. I heard there's mutated humans there, that they hate non-mutated humans. Whenever they see one, they supposedly kill them and then cut off their face to wear as a mask, to hide their own deformities, then eat the bodies."

Jinki's eyes widened. "It's not true right?"

Key laughed. "I don't think so, but who knows. Anything is possible these days. And I'm not stupid enough to go there and find out. I've never gone further than Huddersfield, and that's risky enough."

Jinki nodded. "But you would really take me?"

Key nodded. "Yeah, but we'd have to leave like, right now, and we still might not make it through Niska before dark. So it's up to you if you wanna go right now or wait until tomorrow." As Jinki nodded, he continued to speak. "And I can sleep in the house across the street if you want. That way maybe you won't be so nervous? I went through that house before I came into this one earlier, and I can stay the night there if you want."

Jinki nodded. "Yeah, that would probably be best."

Key nodded. "Alright," He went back to digging through the crate in front of him, leaving the container of beads and buttons to the side.

After a few hours of sorting and a break where they each ate food from their own supplies(and Jinki shared a coke with Key), Key stood up. "I think it's bedtime," Jinki nodded his agreement and walked Key to the door, the way he imagined people once did before the bombs dropped. "I'll be back when the sun comes up okay?" Jinki nodded and watched as Key left the house, and walked across the street to the other house, when the door closed behind him, Jinki closed his own door and went back upstairs into the bedroom, and locked the door behind him, just in case.


	2. Chapter Two

The next morning he woke up to a pounding on the door. "Jinki wake up, it's me, Key!"

Jinki grumbled into the old mattress and yawned, then slowly sat up and stretched his arms. "Yeah hold on," He wiped the sleep from his eyes and stood up, then walked over to the door. He unlocked and opened it to reveal Key, smiling with a box of frosted flakes in his hands. The brightly colored box and smile of the cartoon tiger seemed almost mocking.

"Ready?" Key asked, shoving his hand into the box and bringing a handful of the sugar coated flakes to his mouth.

"No," Jinki said.

Key held the box out towards Jinki. "Breakfast?"

Jinki took a handful for himself. "Thanks,"

Key nodded and watched as Jinki gathered his things and swung his bag over his shoulder. He turned back to Key. "Lead the way."

Key nodded and turned, heading back down the stairs and out of the house, Jinki trailing behind him, the only sound in his ears that of the crunching of the cereal between his teeth.

After he swallowed a handful he spoke. "How old are you?"

"Twenty one, you?" Jinki answered, subconsciously matching his walking with Key's.

"Nineteen. Where were you born?"

"Bomb shelter."

"What?! Then how'd you end up out here. Man, I would have never left," Key said, taking another handful of cereal.

Jinki sighed. "Things were really great there. We were safe. We had food, water. And it was all clean, no radiation. The shelters had been built and stocked years before the bombs fell. There was a garden and it was maintained very well, so we even had fresh vegetables and fruit. Have you ever had carrots or apples before?"

Key shook his head.

"They're amazing. So it was nice. But then, there was a fight. Some of the people in the shelter had wanted to go outside, try to rebuild, for years. The people in charge of the shelter though, they were against it, thought it was too dangerous. Said they already let in wanderers when they showed up, and that was risky enough. The group of people who wanted to leave, the leaders called them 'rebels', well, the rebels were led by my parents. And when I was nineteen, they killed my parents. They had no ill-will towards me. They considered me brainwashed by mom and dad. Told me I could stay and they would take care of me. But how could I stay and live happily with the people who killed my parents, you know?" Jinki glanced over at Key.

"That's awful, I'm sorry." Key said softly.

Jinki only nodded. "What about you?"

Key sighed, and stuffed another handful of cereal into his mouth. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a flash of irritation on Jinki's face, but it was gone just as quickly. When he swallowed the cereal he cleared his throat and spoke.

"I was born out here, in a city much further north than Fossfeck, it was huge. It was called Graafschap. I lived there for a while with my mom and dad, until I was nine and they sold me off to some pervert scavengers from Vree." He heard Jinki gasp, but he continued speaking. "When I got too old for them..." He sighed, "You know, they liked kids, I got too old, when I was like, fifteen, they just put me to work doing other bullshit. Until I was finally able to run away when I was sixteen." He wiped at the few tears that snuck down his cheeks and laughed. "I ran into one of 'em last year. I was his favorite, wouldn't let me sleep in my own bed, made me sleep in his. Sick fuck. He had some other little boy with him." Key shook his head, disgust clear on his face. "He saw me and just laughed. Asked me how I was. Even had the nerve to introduce me to the kid. Name was Taemin. Probably only like seven. So I shot the fucker in the head. Kid was scared shitless but I took him to Fossfeck, Aunt Betty takes care of him now."

"Wow, that's terrible Key, I'm so sorry."

Key shrugged, trying to hide his pain under a mask of indifference. "It's whatever. I'm here now. That asshole is dead. I'm the one who got to kill him."

They walked in silence for around an hour, not talking until they came across a pack of rabid dogs. They were mangy and dirty, their ribs pressing against their skin. They were mainly brown, and Key and Jinki both felt a bit bad about raising their guns up, but as the dogs closed in on them, growling, showing their teeth and foaming at the mouth, they had no other choice.

"Fuck," Key whispered, groaning as he pulled the trigger of his gun only mere seconds before Jinki did, the whimpers of the dogs as they were shot loud in his ears. When the dogs were all dead, Key walked past as quickly as he could, Jinki having to momentarily break into a jog to catch up.

"Are you okay?" Jinki asked, once he caught up with Key.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just, I like dogs. I have one at Fossfeck. I feel bad because they can't help it." He knew it was stupid. He knew he should be used to it after so long, but it never stopped hurting for him.

Jinki pat his shoulder sympathetically, wondering how someone who seemed so sensitive had managed to survive so long. He understood where Key was coming from, he never wanted to shoot defenseless animals, who couldn't control their behavior or who had been made vicious from their owners, but when his own life was on the line, he didn't generally have a lot of options. "What's your dog's name?"

"Comme Des."

"The fuck is that?"

Key shrugged. "I saw it on a shirt once. I think it was something important or fancy before the bombs. I liked how it sounded."

Jinki nodded. He came across things like that sometimes too, and it always made him wonder what the world had been like before. "What kind of dog is it?"

"A little one," Key said, holding his hands out in front of himself to show Jinki it's size. "About that big, I don't know how he survived. Most of the little ones get eaten by the bigger ones or by the monsters." Jinki nodded, he couldn't remember ever seeing more than one or two little dogs. "I saw a picture in a book once. I think he was part of a breed called 'poodle,'" Key laughed, he thought it was a funny name, yet somehow, it seemed to fit his curly little dog.

"When we get there can I see him?"

"Of course." Key smiled at the thought of seeing Comme Des. The little dog was always so excited to see him when he came back. He'd stand up on his hind legs and jump around at Key's feet, his cute little ears flopping as he did so. "It's still a ways to go though." He said, putting his hand up against his forehead to shield his eyes from the sun as he looked into the distance. "You'll know when we're getting close because you'll be able to see it on the sky line." He pointed out ahead of them. "There are a few tall buildings there, so you can see 'em,"

Jinki nodded. "What's it like there?"

"Safe. There's security there, and lots of fences and protection walls. There's rules. If you fuck up too many times you get kicked out. You get kicked out you can't even trade with the caravans that stop just outside the city. If you are able to get a place there, you don't wanna get kicked out, so there's usually not very much shit going on."

"It's hard to get a place there?"

Key nodded. "Yeah. Either you have to have some really good stuff to buy a room with, or you have to have something to offer. Unless," He smiled at Jinki, "you're lucky enough to know someone who already lives there."

Jinki smiled back. "You'd help me get in?"

Key nodded. "If you'd rather live there than in that house, then yeah."

Jinki's smile turned to a grin. "That'd be awesome."

Key nodded. "But you have to do something."

"What do you mean?"

"Regardless of how you get in, you have to do something. It doesn't have to be every second of every day. But you have to contribute. That's part of what keeps the city going. When I'm there, three or four times a week I'll spend a couple hours tutoring kids, or cooking, or help cleaning. There's always a restoration project going. Right now it's this building in the east corner of the town. It probably used to be really nice. There's evidence of beautiful architecture all over it. So sometimes I go there and help work on that. If you just sit in your house all day or only go out to trade or do the fun stuff, they'll kick you out. But it's usually pretty nice. Most people will help you out."

"Sounds like a utopia," Jinki said, staring ahead, lost in thought of a place where everyone worked together and helped each other out. Key's loud, cackling laughter broke him from his thoughts.

"Yeah not really. Scavengers are always trying to sneak in, they get passed the guards quite often. They'll break into houses, shops. A kid got grabbed once. We never got her back." Key sighed sadly. "There's a small pond in the city, and it's always infested with bugs. Then the bugs bite people, and then the people get sick. So people are arguing about what to do with that. 'Fill it in', 'no let's use chemicals to kill the bugs, 'no that's dumb, let's come up with a vaccine,' so then nothing gets done. I mean, yeah, it's way better than living out here, but it's not a utopia."

Jinki nodded and they walked quietly for a while until Key started to sing a song Jinki'd never heard before. He listened for a few minutes, then asked Key what it was. Key shrugged, said he heard it on the radio, and Jinki stood with his mouth hanging open. "You have a radio?"

Key nodded, "Yeah, at home. It was expensive," he squeezed his eyes shut and glanced upwards, thinking hard, "eight cans of Spam, a switchblade, two bottles of Mountain Dew, a box of shotgun shells, and a blazer in almost perfect condition." He sighed, "that was a nice blazer."

"Geeze that much stuff?"

Key nodded. "Yeah. And Mountain Dew is so good, have you ever had it?"

"No, just Coca Cola."

"Yeah, well, Mountain Dew is kind of like Coca Cola, it tastes different, but it's still fizzy and sweet."

"So it's like a different flavor?"

Key nodded, "Yeah, pretty much."

"Wow, how many flavors do you think there used to be?"

Key shrugged. "I know four at least. Coca Cola, Mountain Dew, orange and root beer. I hear there used to be a lot more though."

"Have you tried them all?" Jinki sounded amazed.

Key nodded. "Except for orange. The only person I've ever seen with the orange kind won't share. You can't trade him for one with anything. His name is Kel. Other than that, he's pretty cool."

"Is it because it's so good or something?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know, I've never had it." Key snapped, rolling his eyes.

"Oh." Jinki smiled sheepishly. "Right."

Key laughed. "You're dumb you know that?"

Jinki shrugged. "You're not the first to say that."

Ahead of them, their path began narrowing and there was a small hill. There were small rock formations on either side of the hill, rising up higher and higher for miles. Niska sat just over the hill, a tall wall wrapping all the way around it. Going over the rocks and mountains was dangerous, more dangerous than going through Niska, and it was a known fact that there were countless vats of toxic waste and caves and small buildings full of blood thirsty scavengers throughout.

Key looked at Jinki. "You got your gun loaded?" He asked, loading a fresh magazine into his gun. Jinki nodded and Key jerked his head towards the hill. "Just over the hill is Niska. The first two shacks are side by side. One house is directly against the wall. There's enough space between them to run through, but it's better to go around, hugging the wall," Jinki nodded as Key continued his explanation. "Then there's one big shack, it's like the size of two or three put together, it's pushed flush against the wall that's on the side we'll be on, so we have to go across the whole front of the shack. There are three windows. One has no glass, so it's important to stay really quiet. Once we get past, the last two shacks have enough distance between them that we can just run straight through. Do you understand?" Another nod. "It should be alright as long as we're quiet, but I don't wanna take any chances."

"I'll just follow behind you alright?" Jinki said.

Key nodded, "I was just gonna suggest that." He said, as they made their way towards the hill. "After Niska, I'm not too worried, but you should keep your gun ready. Sometimes these scavengers come down from the mountain. They're mean. They will shoot anyone they don't care. They're not interested in making friends. They just kill and then loot the bodies, sometimes taking the meat too. I don't know if it's true, but I've also heard sometimes they take people alive and brainwash them." Key shrugged. "I don't know if that parts true, but the rest of it is."

"You're smart," Jinki said.

"You would be too if you were born out here." Key said, smiling at Jinki and then pressing his finger over his lips as they came up to the first two shacks. He pointed at the wall and then slowly walked towards it and pressed himself against it and slipped through the opening, Jinki following closely behind. Once they made it past, Key soundlessly dropped to the ground, and began crawling past the large shack, Jinki following close behind him.

They heard movement from inside the house and they both froze. The groans coming from within sounded aggressive and threatening. They heard the sound of a chair scraping against wood, and Key crawled faster, and around the corner, then climbing to his feet and breaking into a sprint. Jinki was close behind him, holding his gun tightly in his hands. Neither one of them looked back or stopped running until they were well past the shacks, leaning against the tall piles of rock.

"I thought you said they slept during the day?" Jinki asked, pulling a bottle of water from his bag and taking a long drink, then handing it towards Key. Key took it with a mumbled thanks and drank, then handed the bottle back to him, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I said they came out at night. Never said anything about them sleeping. I mean, I think they usually are, but I'm not gonna go in there to find out. If you want to, go ahead, be my guest."

Jinki shook his head while putting the bottle back in his bag. "Nah, I'll pass."

"Yeah, I figured," Key said, pushing away from the rocks and continuing on towards Fossfeck. "Come on."

"How much farther?" Jinki asked.

Key hummed in thought. "We won't make it before sundown." Jinki sighed and Kibum smirked. "Come on, don't be a baby. We can eat and rest when we get there."

"I'm not a baby," Jinki whined, and pointed his gun at Key when the younger boy repeated his words in a nasally high pitched voice. Key just laughed harder and slapped the barrel of the gun away. Jinki thought it was pretty ballsy considering they'd just met.

"Spoiled little shelter boy," Key sang, twirling around Jinki while jumping up and down like a young child. Jinki rolled his eyes.

"Quit that,"

"No," Key said with a laugh, as he continued twirling around Jinki as they walked, repeating his little song over and over. "Spoiled little shelter boy, spoiled little shelter boy."

Jinki groaned and kicked his leg out, laughing as Key tripped and fell to the ground with a yelp. "Asshole," Key grumbled, sitting up and wiping the dust off of his vest. He glanced up at Jinki with a scowl. "You're still a spoiled little shelter boy."

"Well you're a....a uh, something." Jinki said, scratching the side of his head.

Key tossed his head back and cackled loudly. "Oh man, ow! That just, that cuts me deep man, it cuts me deep."

Jinki frowned and swung his leg at Key. "Shut up,"

Key laughed again and then cursed. He reached his hand up to his neck and felt a dart. He pulled it out and glanced at it, then looked at Jinki, confusion written all over his face. His eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped to his side.

"Key?" Jinki grabbed his gun and glanced around. In the far off distance, to his right, he could see figures coming towards him. There appeared to be two or three people, but he wasn't sure. "Fuck," He tried to pull Key up, and put the younger boy's arm over his shoulder. He tried to grab Key's things but it was too much for him. He decided he'd leave it behind. "Come on Key, let's go." Moving as fast as he could, he continued towards the city.


	3. Chapter Three

He could hear the foot steps of the scavengers as they came closer, and from his other side, he heard gunshots. He glanced to his left and saw another group of scavengers and cursed under his breath again. They had snuck up on them while they had been goofing off. How could they have been so careless? They both knew better. More gunshots, and he heard a bullet wiz past his feet and dig into the ground just a few feet in front of him. He stared at the divet in the dirt for a second before shaking his head and continuing on. He could only hope they would get sick of chasing him and give up.

The scavengers yelled from behind him. They were close enough now that he could hear their words. "Stop fucking running." "You fuckin' keep running and we fuckin' kill you both." "Stupid fuck, just drop Key."

Jinki froze momentarily. These scavengers knew Key. How could they know him? Are they the ones who had left Key for dead? What could they possibly want with him? He couldn't let them have him. He tried to move faster. "Come on Key, wake up. Please." He prayed to any God that would listen to him.

He heard another gunshot and then a shooting, burning pain went through him, starting at the back of his shin and radiating outwards. He fell forward onto his knees as he yelled in pain. Key's body fell into the dirt next to him, and he groaned. "Fuck," He mumbled, trying to stumble to his feet. He hissed when he put weight on his leg, but reached down for Key anyway. He lifted him into his arms and tried to limp away.

The scavengers were closing in on him, and Jinki cried out in frustration as he continued forward. "Motherfucker!" He heard a gruff voice yell from behind him and then something hard and solid was connecting with the back of his head with a loud crack and he groaned as Key's body again slipped from his grip and he fell forward again, onto his hands and knees. "You fucking listen to us bitch!" Another crack and he was seeing black.

They dragged Key by his arms, his legs and butt dragging through dirt and rock, puddles and animal remains. They'd tied his wrists and ankles together, and had wrapped thick rope around his head multiple times, pressing it into his mouth to keep him quiet. One of them had his bag and gun slung over his shoulder, while the others carried their own things. Home base was still a few miles away, and they wanted to make it before dark.

A few minutes later and Key began groaning, tossing his head back and fourth and slowly opening his eyes. The group of scavengers stopped their trek and the one dragging him dropped his arms, then walked around him to pull him to his feet. Another one of them dug through his own bag and tied a long piece of twine around Key's throat, giving him a slap across the face as he screamed at them. He bent down and cut the rope from around his ankles, then stood back up.

They continued on, giving a hard yank on the twine, forcing Key forward with a gag. Key followed behind them, still grumbling and cursing through the rope. The scavengers laughed at him as he did so, and the ones walking behind him kicked him in the ass when he got too loud, which only made him yell louder, and turn around to glare at them and spew unclear profanities at them.

Once they reached their home, they dragged Key through countless hallways, and into a small room. Key's nostrils were instantly assaulted with a terrible smell, and he wrinkled his nose as his stomach turned at the stench. There were four small cages occupying the space. Two were empty, and the other two had bodies inside, both females, and it was clear they were the source of the smell. He groaned as one of the scavengers unlocked one of the cages and he was shoved towards it.

One of the few female scavengers made her way over to a rusted filing cabinet and pulled it open, she took a large, round piece of metal out and shoved the drawer closed. She pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked the padlock on the metal, then wrapped it around Key's throat, then re-locked it. She smiled at him, and pressed a kiss to his forehead. She laughed as he tried to jerk away. "You try and leave this room while that's around your throat, and you go Boom, 'kay cutie?" She cut the ropes off of him and shoved him into the cage, then locked it shut. She gave him another smirk, and then turned towards the door, where a few other scavengers stood, waiting for her. "Hope you sleep well Key," She said, giving him a small wave.

"Get fucked Pepper," He hissed lowly.

She laughed, and it tinkled like bells. "Well now that you're here maybe I will."

Disgust was clear on his face and she laughed again, blew him a kiss and turned off the light in the room. She closed the door behind her and Key could hear the clicking of the lock.

Jinki groaned as he came to, and reached to gently rub the back of his head. The lump he felt beneath his hand was large, and his whole head throbbed. Slowly he pushed himself to his feet, stumbling as pain shot through him from the gunshot wound. He glanced around. Key was nowhere to be seen, his things were gone too. He saw his own duffel bag, but his shot gun was gone. "Fuck."

The sky was orange and the wind had a chill to it and he cursed again, then carefully sat down. He pulled his bag towards him and opened it, then pulled out a bottle of whiskey and long piece of cloth. He set them aside and dug through his bag more, until he found his knife. He pulled the legs of his pants up and twisted around so he could see the bullet wound.

He took the cap off the whiskey and took a shot, then poured a bit over his knife and a little more over the bullet wound. He cursed at the burn, then shrugged and took another shot. He squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed nervously, then reopened them and pressed the knife against the wound. He dug it in with more curses pouring from his lips, as he maneuvered it slowly and carefully to try and dig the bullet out.

After digging for a few minutes he found the bullet and carefully moved his knife underneath it to push it closer to the surface. Fresh blood trailed down his leg and tears stung his eyes as he reached out and pulled at the bullet with his fingers. He tossed it aside and cursed again, then poured some whiskey over the wound, and carefully wrapped the cloth around it. He could only pray it didn't get infected. He didn't have much medicine left.

He glanced around again. He hadn't realized how dark it had gotten. He wasn't sure what to do. He had to go find Key, but it would be stupid to go now, in the dark, through an area he was unfamiliar with. But what if they were hurting him? What if they killed him? Who were they? How did they know him? What did they want with him? His mind was buzzing with questions he had no answers for.

With a groan he unrolled his sleeping bag and pushed his duffel bag into the bottom, then crawled in, his toes digging into his bag. He was too tired and weak to do anything else, and he just prayed that by morning he would feel better and would be able to look for Key. Prayed that Key wasn't already dead.

Key cursed under his breath as he tried to work the lock on the cage door open. He only had one bobby pin, all of his other stuff the scavengers had. One chance to get it unlocked. One chance to get the collar off. He grinned when he heard a click and the lock popped open. He pushed it open and crawled out. He took a deep breath before he reached up for the padlock on the collar. He didn't know if messing with it would cause it to go off or not.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

He glanced up to see Pepper in the doorway, leaning against the frame. Her painted pink lips were curled up into a twisted smirk. "You know I missed you," She said, looking down at the ground.

"Fuck off," He hissed.

"I killed them you know. They're gone." She closed the door behind her and moved further into the room. She pushed Key into an old, ripped up chair.

"I don't care,"

She crawled into his lap and stroked his cheek with her hand, pressing soft kisses along his jaw. He pushed her hands away, pushed her head away. His skin crawled every where she touched him. She pressed her hand against his neck, just above his collar, and squeezed. "Don't fight me Key. I did a lot for you," she said, pressing a kiss to the underside of his chin.

"Yeah, and I never asked for any of it, now get away from me," he said, shoving her again, putting more force into it than the previous time.

She fell off of his lap with a curse and she stood up. "They shouldn't have done it. I was against it you know. I didn't want them to betray you. Couldn't understand why. You were such a good shot. You know I still have Lady G," She said, referring to Key's sniper rifle that had been stolen from him, after they'd left him for dead.

"Well give her back and let me go." Key said. "I'm not interested in working with you anymore."

"No way," She said, "You're not getting her back if you're not gonna stick with us."

"Well fuck you then." Key said, "Let me go,"

"No," She snapped, crawling back onto his lap. "I have plans for you," She whispered, dragging her hand down his chest and abdomen, resting it above the top of his pants.

He groaned, "Don't be gross Pepper," He pushed her hands away, but she put them right back, dragging them over the crotch of his pants, a smirk on her face.

"Pepper stop it," He said again, grabbing her hands and pulling them away.

She growled and stood up, then headed towards the door. "If you fuck with the collar, it'll blow up, okay? The only way to get it off is with the key. And if you go past these," She pointed at two metal cylinders above the door, one on either side. "The collar blows up. If you fuck with them, the collar blows up. Got it?"

He nodded, and she smiled. "I'll be back later honey," She gave him a small wave and then disappeared around the corner.

 

Jinki woke up when the sun was already high in the sky. With a loud curse, he hurried to wiggle himself out of his sleeping bag. He sighed in relief when he realized the bullet wound in his leg wasn't as painful as it was the night before. He pulled his duffel bag out of the bottom of the sleeping bag and pulled a can of Spam and a bottle of water out of it, then ate quickly, before packing his stuff up and heading towards the mountains. He knew that's where the scavengers lived, so that had to be where they'd taken Key.

His progress was slow, but he was happy that he was even able to walk. He walked in silence for a few hours, wondering how many scavengers he'd be up against, how well armed they were, and how guarded they'd be. He had plenty of bullets, so he wasn't worried about that, but shot guns were loud, and their distance was limited. He'd have to be quick. That would be difficult with a bum leg.

He came across the body of an old man and knelt down next to it. It looked like it had only been laying there for a few days. He shoved his hands in all the pockets of the man and pulled out a few random bullets, and a small razor blade knife. He pocketed it and then moved to dig through the man's pack, hoping that somehow there would be a sniper rifle inside.

There wasn't of course and he groaned. The only thing useful in the bag was food, and a couple bottles of water, which he transferred into his own bag. He wondered what had happened to the old man. There were no bullet holes or stab wounds, or other visible signs of injury, yet he had no other weapons on him. Jinki knew the man had had more than a razor blade knife, and not just because there had been a few bullets in his pocket. No one survived more than a few hours without a gun. Some one must have taken it off of him. Probably the scavengers he was going after.

He froze when he heard voices, and dropped low to the ground.

"What do you think of Key being back?"

"Fuck him. Pepper's gonna be all over him, just like she was before."

Jinki felt something he refused to call jealousy rush through him.

"He never seemed that interested, dunno why though. She could be half dead and missing both arms and I'd still do her,"

Jinki wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"I hate him. Wanna get rid of him,"

"Yeah, Pepper will have your dick for that,"

"The fuck is her deal with him anyway? He don't even want her, but she'd pay to suck his dick."

There was silence for a second, and then shuffling, and Jinki could hear their footsteps getting closer. Carefully, and slowly, he pulled his gun close. He held his breath as the footsteps came closer and then began to fade. Once they sounded a little ways away, Jinki sat up and aimed his gun at the head of one of the scavengers. When he had the man's head in his sight, he squeezed the trigger. He grimaced as the man's head exploded, and quickly aimed at the second scavenger, who already had his gun pulled up, ready to shoot. Luckily, he hadn't seen Jinki yet, and Jinki quickly got his head in his sight and squeezed the trigger a second time. The man went down and Jinki mentally patted himself on the back.

He waited another minute to make sure that no one else was around and then stood up, and wandered over to the bodies of the scavengers. He knelt down and dug through their bags and pockets, transferring all the good stuff into his own bag. He grinned when he saw a sniper rifle on the ground next to one of them. He picked it up and looked it over, checking to make sure it was in good shape. It looked brand new and there were a stack of magazines in the scavenger's bag, along with the one already loaded into the gun. He put the safety on his shotgun and then slung it over his shoulder, deciding the sniper would probably be more useful as he continued on.

 

Key's eye lids felt heavy and he struggled to keep them open. He didn't want to sleep. He didn't want to wake up with Pepper on top of him. He didn't want to give Pepper a chance to drug him. But he knew he could only make it so long. He groaned in frustration as she walked back into the room.

"Aww, still awake baby? Do you need something to help you sleep?" She cooed. She didn't bother trying to hide the syringe in her hand.

He shook his head. "No." He was tired, but he was pretty sure he could get the syringe out of her hand and drug her. But that would still leave him trapped in the room. He knew Pepper wasn't stupid enough to keep the key in her pocket when she was in the room. He wasn't sure if getting the drugs out of her hand was even worth it. If he drugged her, he'd still be trapped in the room. She probably didn't have any weapons on her. She didn't need any when she was in the room because there was nothing Key could do. Even if he killed her, he'd still be trapped.

She came closer and reached out for his arm, which he quickly jerked away. "Get away from me," He groaned.

She climbed onto his lap and cooed at him, sliding her hand over his cheek. "Baby, don't fight me. Didn't you miss me?" He shook his head. She grabbed for his arm and he continued to try and pull it away. "Stop fighting Key. It'll feel so nice," She smiled sweetly at him, grinding her hips down into his crotch. He jerked his hips up in an effort to throw her off but she grabbed onto his shoulder and stabbed the syringe into the base of his neck and pressed the plunger down.

"Fucking bitch," He muttered as the drug rushed through him and his vision went fuzzy. He felt her hands move lower and he could hear the sound of his zipper going down. He gasped in shock as he felt her cool hands dip into his pants and he tried to reach up to push her hand away, but his arms felt like they each weighed a ton. "Stop it," he groaned, trying to wiggle away as she pulled his pants and underwear down, letting them bunch under his ass.

"You're gonna love it," she cooed into his ear, sucking at the sensitive flesh behind it as she reached down to pull off her shorts and skimpy underwear. "It's gonna feel so good, I promise," She said, as she lowered herself on Key and began rocking against him.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to will his body to ignore the stimulation being forced upon it. "Look at me Key," she moaned, running her fingers through his hair, down to the nape of his neck, where she squeezed until he opened his eyes. He felt something akin to nausea fill him when he saw Pepper's blurry face just inches from his, her face flushed with arousal, arousal she was getting from his body, without his consent and he found himself gagging, trying to choke back the bile he felt rising in his throat. When finally, after a few minutes, she gasped loudly into his neck and climbed off of him he vomited into his own lap, the drugs pumping through his body leaving him too weak to turn his head to the side.

Pepper's tinkly laugh was loud in his ears as she pulled her shorts up over her hips. "I always knew you'd be a good lay Key," She laughed again as she watched a shudder go through him, and he coughed repeatedly. She walked out of the room and came back a couple minutes later, an old metal bucket in her hands. He could hear water sloshing around in it and he yelped when it was poured into his lap to clean off the vomit. She laughed again and jerked his pants and underwear off. "I'll get you some dry clothes baby," She threw the bucket in the corner and disappeared again, returning in minutes with clean underwear and pants in her hands, she redressed him slowly, letting her hands linger on his hips,and slapping him across the face every time she got enough of his fighting. Once she had his pants buttoned and zipped she left the room, this time closing the door behind her.

 

The sun was going down, the wind was cold and Jinki was mad. He was mad because he'd slept in. He'd wasted time, and now, he still wasn't to the scavengers' hideout and it was already dark. His leg was sore from all the walking and he was starving. He needed to sit down, rest, eat and drink some water. He needed to sleep as well but the thought of doing so scared him. He knew he was a lot closer to the scavengers and he knew without a doubt that if any of them happened to see him, they would waste no time in killing him.

He glanced around, looking for some place where he could sleep unnoticed. A few hundred yards from the path he was on, he saw what looked like a shallow cave, partially hidden by dead plants and trees. He headed closer to it, holding his gun up, to investigate and was pleased to find that it was a cave, and it was unoccupied. He crawled into it and sat down, then pulled his bag closer to himself and pulled out a bottle of water, a spoon and a can of ravioli.

He pulled the lid off of the pasta and dug his spoon in, taking a huge bite and groaning at the taste. He hadn't eaten in hours and the ravioli really hit the spot. He took the lid off of the water and took a long drink before re-closing it and putting it aside. He was more hungry than he was thirsty, so he was more concerned with filling himself with the pasta. When he was finished, he glanced around and tossed the can over the side of the mountain. He normally didn't do that, but he didn't have the time or resources to deal with it. He unrolled his sleeping bag, and once again, pushed his duffel bag into the bottom of it, before wiggling his way into it, his gun nearby.

 

Key's head smacking against the dirty linoleum was what woke him, and he groaned as he rubbed the back of his head and opened his eyes, only to be met with darkness. He blinked a few times, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, then looked around. He whimpered pathetically when he remembered where he was and what had been done to him. "Shit," He crawled on the floor until he found the disgustingly filthy toilet he had vaguely remembered being in one corner of the room, then leaned over it, emptying whatever remained in his stomach into the dirty bowl.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and sat back on his heels. His head was pounding and he couldn't think straight. He guessed it was from the last bits of the drug that hadn't yet left his system. He lifted his hand up to his neck to feel that the collar was still around his throat, trapping him in the tiny room with the rotting bodies, the smell of which he'd somehow become used to.

He stood up slowly, reaching out to grab the wall when he felt his head spin. Once it passed, he made his way towards the counter on one side of the room and felt around for the light. He turned it on and squinted until his eyes adjusted to the light, then glanced around. It was pointless, really. He was still trapped.

He heard footsteps and he turned towards the door. He watched as the doorknob turned and the door opened, revealing Pepper, of course. She smiled at him. "oh you're awake." She stepped further into the room. "How did you sleep baby?"

"Fine," he said, his voice stiff.

"That's good," He watched as her eyes dragged over his body, and a shudder of disgust ran through him. "You look so tense Key baby," she cooed, "You want me to help you relax?"

He took a step backwards. "No, no, I'm fine."

'You know Key, things would be a lot easier if you'd just join us. I could take the collar off, you could have Lady G back."

"Fine, fine, I'll join you, take this off me, give me my gun." He said, exasperation clear in his voice.

"I'm offended Key," She said, turning to leave again. "That you think i'm that dumb." She held the doorknob in her hand and glanced over her shoulder. "Don't worry, with time, you'll see things my way." She smirked at him and left him alone, closing the door again behind her.

He groaned and flopped back down in the chair. There was nothing for him to do. He wondered what Jinki was doing. If he was still trying to get to Fossfeck. Deep down he hoped that Jinki would come for him and rescue him, but he knew that was ridiculous to even think about. Jinki had been against even working together. There was no way he would waste his time and risk his life to try and save some guy he'd only known a couple days. The only way he'd get out of there was if he was able to do it himself, which he knew was impossible.

He sighed and wondered how bad joining Pepper would really be. He knew she'd never leave him alone. That she would still drug him if he didn't consent to sex. But if he could earn her trust, play on her feelings for a while, make her believe he'd changed his mind, she'd probably let him loose. He could kill them all, loot them and leave. It would take time, a lot of time, at least a few months, probably more, but it was doable. He sighed and shifted in the chair, trying to get comfortable, then closed his eyes and tried to sleep.


	4. Chapter Four

Jinki groaned as he woke up and stretched his arms above his head. He wiggled out of the sleeping bag and sat up. He smiled when he saw that the sun was just coming up. He pulled his bag out of the bottom of the sleeping bag, and then rolled it up. He pulled up his pants leg and unwrapped the cloth from around his bullet wound. It didn't look infected. He opened his duffel bag and pulled out the opened bottle of whiskey and poured a bit more over the wound, hissing at the burn, and then re wrapped it.

He wasted no time pulling out a bottle of water and a can of spam for breakfast, and when it was finished, he packed everything up, and swung his bag over his shoulder. He was pretty sure he could make it to Key before the day was over. He walked the 100 or so yards to get back on the path and continued forward.

After walking in silence for around a half hour, he saw what looked like a small building, built into the mountain side in the distance. He lifted up his sniper rifle and looked through the scope to get a better look. He saw two scavengers guarding the front, and two more on the mountain cliff above the building. He turned his safety off and shot the two scavengers up above, and then quickly took out the two in front of the door.

He walked faster, anxious to reach the building, and kept his gun raised in case more scavengers made an appearance. He made it to the door with no other scavengers appearing, and knelt down to see if the four he'd shot had anything good on them. All they had was ammo, and he dumped it into his bag, then stood up and swung the sniper rifle over his shoulder and pulled his combat shotgun off his other shoulder and double checked that it was loaded. He put some shells in his pocket and moved his knife to his other pocket and then slowly opened the door.

He moved in slowly, pulling his knife from his pocket when he saw the first scavenger with his back to Jinki. He stood up and snuck closer to the scavenger and then reached around and dragged the knife across the man's throat. The man choked and reached up to hold his throat as he fell to the ground, a pool of blood quickly forming beneath him.

Jinki stepped over him and continued further into the building. Before he was able to sneak up on the next scavenger he was spotted, so he quickly raised his gun and squeezed the trigger. The scavenger dropped and Jinki quickly glanced around. The sound of the shot echoed through the building, and everyone had surely heard it.

Sure enough he heard footsteps quickly coming towards him, and he raised his shotgun and quickly fired off three rounds, one in the head of each scavenger, before they even had a time to shoot their own guns. Carefully he went around the corner and took out two more scavengers, missing a bullet to the head by about a half inch.

Jinki twisted around when he watched a corner of the wall in front of him get blown away. He raised his gun and squeezed the trigger before the scavenger had a chance to fix his aim.

"Who the fuck are you?"

He glanced forward to see an attractive young woman in front of him. She wore short, ripped denim shorts and a crop top. Her hair was dyed bright pink and twisted into low pigtails. She didn't seem to have a weapon on her. Jinki didn't want to shoot her, but she was obviously with the other scavengers.

"Are you retarded or something? I asked you a question." She hissed, reaching behind her to pull a gun from the waistband of her shorts. Jinki didn't wait around to find out what she was pulling from her shorts and instead raised his gun and squeezed the trigger. She fell to the ground with a curse. "You fucker," she groaned, lifting the gun in the air and aiming at his head. He wasted no time in putting another piece of lead in her, causing her head to smash into the ground.

"Key?!" He called, glancing around.

Key woke up to the sound of gunfire. He cursed under his breath. He had no way to defend himself. He heard a few more shots, then a few seconds of silence, followed by a final shot, and then his name.

"Huh?"

"Key! Are you in here?"

It sounded like Jinki. Had he really risked his life to come find him? "I'm here Jinki!" he yelled, standing up and running over to the door, opening it so Jinki could hear him better. He heard footsteps and a minute later Jinki appeared around the corner.

"Key, are you okay?" He ran into the room and hugged Key. Key was taken aback by the affection but returned the hug anyway.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Key said, pulling away from Jinki. "But you gotta find the key."

"What?"

"I can't leave this room," he pointed at the collar around his neck. "It'll explode if I do. I gotta get it off. Did you see Pepper? She probably has the key."

"Pink hair?" Key nodded. "I killed her."

Key frowned. "You killed her?"

Jinki nodded. "Was I not supposed to?"

"No, you weren't. I wanted to kill her. Fucking evil bitch." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter now. Go see if she has a key on her."

"'Kay," Jinki turned around and ran back out of the room to where he'd left the woman's body. He knelt down and dug through her pockets, grinning when he felt his fingers brush against a small piece of metal. He wrapped his fingers around it and pulled it out of her pocket. It was indeed a key and he ran back to the room Key was in. "Is this it?" He asked, pushing it into Key's hands.

Key brought the key closer to the light and looked at it, turning it over in his hands. "Yeah, I think so." He frowned. "I hope so," He added under his breath. He glanced over at Jinki. "You might wanna like, I don't know get out of this room, like stand in a different hallway."

"Why?"

"If this is the wrong key it might make the collar explode."

"Well then shouldn't we be sure?" Jinki asked, reaching out and pulling the key out of Key's hands.

"This was on Pepper right?" Key asked. Jinki nodded. "Then it's probably the right key. I doubt she would let anyone else have that kind of control over me. She was sort of obsessed with me." Jinki nodded, remembering the words of the scavengers from the night before.

"But just in case," Key said, "go down into a different hallway, I don't know how powerful it'll be if it goes off. Please?"

Jinki nodded and left the room, then turned down the hall until he was near the entrance. Key waited a minute, giving Jinki time to get away, then took a deep breath before putting the key into the lock. It fit smoothly, so far so good. He squeezed his eyes shut and took another deep breath, then turned the key in the lock. He heard a click and opened his eyes. He felt around on the padlock and collar to find that the padlock had opened. He sighed in relief and took it out, then opened the collar. He dropped it on the floor and left the room.

"Jinki?" He walked around the corner to see Jinki coming towards him, a small smile on his face. "Did you kill them all?"

Jinki shrugged. "Killed everyone I saw."

Key scowled when he saw Pepper's body laying on the floor. He raised his foot back and kicked her, again and again. "Fucking sick bitch. Hope you're rotting in hell." He took Jinki's gun from him and pressed the barrel at Pepper's head, then squeezed the trigger. Blood and brain matter splattered against his face, where a few stray tears streaked down his cheeks. "Fuck you whore." He shoved Jinki's gun back into his hands and spit on her body.

"Key, are you alright?" Jinki asked softly.

"I'm fine." Key snapped. "Let's loot their asses." He said, bending down and picking up Pepper's pistol. He checked that it was loaded and then led Jinki down the hallway. "She said they still had my gun," He said, walking into a room and going through the boxes and trunks, cursing under his breath when he found there was nothing useful in them.

"How do they know you?" Jinki asked, following behind him as he went into another room.

"Remember how I said a scavenger group took my stuff and left me for dead?" Jinki nodded. "Yeah, well, it was this group. But Pepper killed the ones who betrayed me. Cuz she was fucking obsessed with me." A shudder wracked his frame as he bent down to go through another box, cheering softly as he found his bag.

"Did...did she hurt you?" Jinki asked, thinking of the way Key treated her body.

"No, shut up." Key said, shoving more bullets and supplies into his bag, before standing up and moving to the next room, his eyes lighting up when he saw Lady G. "Lady," he cried, running towards the rifle that was laying on the counter, a handful of bullets and a knife laying near by. He picked it up and looked it over, cursing when he noticed scratches on it that hadn't been there before. "Motherfuckers don't know how to treat a lady," he mumbled under his breath, before glancing up at Jinki with a smile. "My baby."

Jinki returned the smile. "Are we done here?"

Key shook his head. "No, there are a few more rooms in the back I want to check. They might have some good shit." He said, walking past Jinki and heading towards the back. "They probably have some good drugs and shit that I can sell." He explained, walking into the first room and shuffling through everything, throwing the lids off of boxes and digging through them, shoving any food, water, bullets or other useful things he found into his bag.

Making it all the way around one room, he went into another room, repeating the process, smirking as he found the group's drug stash and dumped it all into his bag. "Dumb drugged up fuckers," He hissed, heading into the last room.

"Are you sure you're alright Key?" Jinki asked again. He didn't know why he felt the need to ask again, especially when he assumed he'd get the same response he'd gotten before.

"Yeah. I'm fine, stop asking." Key said, turning to face him. "Alright, I think that's it. You wanna head out?"

Jinki nodded and allowed Key to take the lead. Key took up a brisk pace, only stopping when he realized Jinki was still a ways behind him. "Why are you so slow?"

"Probably the hole in my leg." Jinki said, lifting up his pants leg to show Key.

"What the fuck? How did that happen?"

"The scavengers that kidnapped you." Jinki said. "They shot you with that tranquilizer dart and I tried to carry you and get away. But they shot me and down I went."

"Shit I'm so sorry Jinki," Key said, kneeling down to get a better look.

"Don't worry it's fine, I've been keeping an eye on it," Jinki said, lowering his pants leg before Key had a chance to undo the bandage.

Key frowned and stood back up, opening the door to the building and heading out, Jinki close behind him. "I'm really sorry though man. You got shot cuz of me."

"And bashed in the back of the head, but it's okay."

Key turned to see Jinki smiling. "What?"

"They bashed me in the back of the head with a baseball bat or something." He explained as he followed Key back down the mountain.

"Fuck, that sucks, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Key asked, twisting around to look at Jinki as they continued on the same path Jinki had taken to the building.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, no worries," Jinki said, waving his hand dismissively. "Let's just get to Fossfeck."

Key nodded his agreement and they moved as quickly as they could to get off of the mountain path and back on the trail to Fossfeck. After a couple hours of walking Key lowered himself to the ground, pulling his pack into his lap and digging through it until he found a can of sausage and some water. Jinki sat down next to him and pulled out food from his own bag. "How much farther do you think it is?" Key asked.

"A few more hours." Jinki said, taking a bite of his Spam.

"Geeze," Key said, through a mouthful of sausage. "I didn't know they were that far into the mountains."

Jinki nodded. "Yeah, they were." He shrugged. "What can you do?"

Key nodded his agreement and drank from his water bottle. "Do you wanna sleep here for a while or just keep going until we get off the mountain?"

Jinki shrugged again. "I don't care. It's up to you. Are you tired?"

Key nodded. "A little. Those drugs fucked me up,"

"They drugged you?" Jinki asked, his voice laced with concern.

Key nodded. "I'm alright through."

"Well then let's sleep for a while." He glanced around and pointed a few feet off the path. There was scrap metal and a large piece of rotten plywood leaning up against a rock. "We can probably hide over there." He stood up as Key continued to eat, and set up the wood and metal in a way that made a small, makeshift shelter. Key tossed his sleeping bag at him and he unrolled it, then unrolled his own right next to it, putting his bag into the bottom of it. After a minute, Key joined him, also shoving his bag into the bottom of his sleeping bag, and they wriggled into the bags.

"Goodnight Jinki," Key said softly.

"Goodnight Key,"

"and thanks...for rescuing me," Key added with a small whisper.

"You're welcome."

 

The next morning Key woke to Jinki shaking him. "Key come on, wake up,"

Key groaned and swatted at Jinki's hand. "Don't wanna,"

Jinki laughed softly and shook Key again. "Come on, the sooner we get to Fossfeck, the better."

Another groan and Key rolled over to face Jinki. "Fine," He mumbled under his breath and scooted out of his sleeping bag. He pulled his pack out of the bottom and then Jinki grabbed it and rolled it up while Key pulled a bag of probably stale potato chips out of his bag and ripped it open. He slung his pack over his back and grabbed his gun, then led Jinki down the mountain.

"How long have you been awake?"

Jinki shrugged. "Dunno. Long enough to eat breakfast and pack up my stuff." Key nodded as he pushed a handful of potato chips into his mouth. "How are you feeling this morning?"

Key swallowed the chips down and nodded. "Better, thanks."

"that's good. You think if we keep a good pace today we can make it to Fossfeck?"

Key tilted his head to the side in thought. "Mmm, it'll probably be real early in the morning." He ate another handful.

"Sounds good enough for me," Jinki said, his limp much less pronounced.

Key rolled up the bag of chips and shoved it back into his pack and then wiped his hands on his pants, following behind Jinki as they headed down to the base of the mountain. After a few hours of walking, the sun hanging high in the sky, they finally reached the base of the mountain, a few hundred yards away from Niska, the spot they'd been at when the scavengers had snuck up on them.

"Fucking finally," Key muttered, wasting no time jumping off the last rock and continuing forward, passing ahead of Jinki. "If we don't run into any trouble, we might be able to make it before morning."

"That's good," Jinki said, moving to walk at Kibum's side instead of behind him. "What's the first thing you wanna do when we get there?"

Key hummed in thought. "I don't know, maybe take a bath. See my little Comme Des, check on Taemin. Well, it'll probably be late when we get in. So probably just the bath, and then in the morning, Comme Des and Taemin." He nodded to himself. "Yeah, I think that's what I'll do," He glanced over at Jinki. "I only have one little bed, but I have a couch. It's kind of shitty, but it's better than the floor. You can crash on it if you want. Then in the morning or something I can take you to Kris and we can talk about getting you a place."

They did, of course, run into trouble. They could see Fossfeck in the distance, and the sun was low in the sky, when a pack of rad-monsters blocked their path. They looked like they might have been turtles in a past life, but stood on their back feet, with long sharp nails. Jinki nor Key had ever seen them before.

"The fuck is this?" Key muttered, raising his gun up, aiming his sight between the eyes of one of the monsters. He squeezed the trigger and the monster screeched, but continued towards them. "Fuck," Key muttered, before he squeezed the trigger again.

Beside him, Jinki had already emptied a magazine into one of the monsters and was reloading as quickly as he could. Key took his third shot at the monster and it stumbled backwards. Jinki emptied half of the fresh magazine into the monster and it finally went down. He quickly aimed at the next one while Key took his fourth and fifth shot at the monster, it finally going down on the sixth shot. He moved onto the next monster, while stepping backwards as it moved closer, screeching and raising it's hands threateningly towards him.

Key squeezed the trigger repeatedly, until the monster went down and he had to reload, then aimed at the final monster, that Jinki was already shooting at. Two shots and it went down with a screech. Jinki glanced over at Key and laughed. "What the fuck was that?"

Key shrugged. "Never saw anything like it before."

"You think monsters from farther north are coming down?" He asked, as they continued towards the city.

Key shrugged. "I don't know. They can go back where they came from though," Jinki nodded his agreement and they walked for another hour before finally reaching the entrance of Fossfeck.

Key walked over the the guard that stood in front of the door. "Hey Ravi, this is my friend Jinki," He said, nodding towards Jinki.

Ravi nodded. "Good to see you in one piece Key," He smiled and turned to unlock the tall, thick gate. Jinki glanced over at Key with a grin. Key returned the grin and led Jinki through the gate. Behind them, they heard Ravi close and relock the gate.

Even in the dim light of the street lamps, Jinki could see the partially rebuilt buildings, the dented trashcans on the crumbled sidewalks, filled in with lumpy cement. He could see small bushes, and the beginnings of what would someday be great, tall trees. In the distance he could hear the bark of a dog, and even a chirping bird.

His mouth hung open in awe and he heard Key laugh from beside him.

"Welcome to Fossfeck."

Key led Jinki through the city. Although it was late at night, there were still a few people bustling about, hanging out in on the broken sidewalks, many of who called out to Key, and waved to him in greeting. He waved back with a smile, as he led Jinki up two flights of stairs. He dug through his bag and pulled out a chain with a key on it and unlocked the door and pushed it open, stepping aside so jinki could walk in. He walked in behind him and then relocked the door.

Jinki glanced around. It was the nicest place he'd ever seen. A ratty old couch sat on one side, pushed up against a wall, and in front of it was a low table, where a radio sat. On the other side of the table was a chair. Next to it was an open door, where Jinki could see a bed pushed against the far wall,and what looked like the edge of a desk. On the side of the room opposite the couch sat a bookshelf, full of books and objects Jinki couldn't make out from where he was standing. On the other side of the bookshelf was a door, presumably to the bathroom. Further back was an old, stained refrigerator, a sink, a small counter, an oven, and two tall, racks, filled with food and other things. "Wow, this is really nice."

"Thanks," Key said, walking over to the shelves and emptying his back pack of the food in it, placing it all in neat lines on the shelves, then moved to the fridge, putting all his water in it. He stood up and closed the fridge and headed towards the bedroom. "Bathroom's through there if you need it. But only to pee! I get to bathe first," He said, disappearing around the corner to empty his bag of bullets and drugs, putting them in various drawers of the desk, then dropping his bag on top.

"No, I'm good. Hey, can I put my water in your fridge?" Jinki asked, as Key walked back out of his bedroom, a pair of shorts in his hands, as he headed to the bathroom.

"Yeah, go ahead, just don't get it mixed with mine," He said, "you can turn the radio on if you want too, there's only like three stations though," Key said before closing the door to the bathroom.

Jinki took his bag over to the kitchen area and opened the fridge, then glanced inside to find a place where he could put his water. He found a spot in the bottom where there were no water bottles so he bent down to put his water there.

Key put the plug in the drain of the stained ceramic bathtub. He'd tried his best to get the stains out but nothing he could find or tried got rid of them. He turned on the water and held his hand under the uneven stream, and adjusted the water until he got it how he liked it-almost too hot to stand it. He stripped off his clothes and tossed them in the corner, then reached over to the small table that sat beside the sink, and grabbed a small plastic container. He took the lid off to reveal a mix of different herbs and plants. He took a small handful and sprinkled it into the steaming water, deeply breathing in the scent.

He closed the container and sat it back down on the table, and then stepped over the side of the tub and slid into the water. He sighed in contentment as the hot water met with his stiff and sore body. He cupped some water in his hands and poured it over his shoulders, massaging the sore joints.

Jinki sat down on the couch and reached over to the radio. He turned the knob until he heard a click and music filled his ears. He leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes. He hadn't listened to music in so long, it sounded so good. He silently mouthed the words to the song as he tapped his fingers on his knees to the beat.

Key reached over the side of the tub and picked up the bar of soap that sat on a small plastic plate on the floor. He dipped the white bar into the water and slid it over his arm, then dipped it back into the water and slid it over his slightly toned chest. He sighed contently as he slid it over his other arm, and under his pits, and then under the water to wash his legs. He rubbed the bar into his hands and washed his face, then rinsed his hands in the water and rinsed his face. He dipped his body further into the water to rinse the soap off, then stood up and pulled the plug out of the drain, and carefully stepped out of the tub. He reached over to the sink and grabbed the towel he'd laid out, and dried his body. He folded the towel back up and then pulled his shorts up his pale, muscled thighs.

He walked out of the bathroom to see Jinki relaxing into the couch, humming along to the music on the radio. He smiled, Jinki looked cute. "Hey, you can take a bath now if you want," Jinki looked up and smiled when he saw Key. "I can get you some shorts?" Key said, unsure if Jinki had actually sleeping clothes.

"Oh really?" Jinki stood up. "That'd be great, thanks,"

Key walked into his bedroom and returned a moment later, and handed a pair of shorts to Jinki. "I only have one bar of soap and one towel to dry off with, I hope that's not weird to you?" He glanced down at the blanket in his other hand. "Also, I have an extra blanket." He shoved it at Jinki. "In case you get cold."

Jinki shook his head. "No, it's okay, thanks."

"Okay, I'm gonna go to bed," Key said, bending down to turn off the radio. "Just turn off the lights and...please don't rob me?"

Jinki laughed, "Okay, thanks again and sleep well."

Key smiled and went into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. He headed towards his bed and then paused, wondering if he should lock the doors. He shook his head and then climbed into his bed. The next morning he was woken by the smell of cooking meat.

He yawned and stretched and breathed in deeply, then climbed out of bed and walked out of his room. In the small kitchen area, Jinki stood in front of the stove, a chunk of meat sizzling in the pan. Jinki glanced up and grinned when he saw him. "Good morning," he glanced down at the meat and back to Key. "Hope you don't mind."

Key shook his head. "No, not at all, it smells great," He walked across the room and into the bathroom, then came back out a minute later, the sound of the toilet flushing in the background. "How much longer until it's ready?" he asked, opening the fridge and pulling out a bottle of milk, popping the lid off and chugging it.

Jinki hummed as he poked at the meat with a fork. "A minute or two more," He glanced behind himself to smile at Key as the younger man pulled the bottle away from his lips and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.

Jinki turned off the stove and sliced the meat with a too big knife, then transferred the pieces to two plates, a fork on each one. He handed one plate to Key and moved to sit down in the chair by the radio. Key nodded his thanks and watched Jinki sit down. "You want some milk or something?" Jinki shook his head so Key moved to sit down on the couch.

"This is good, thanks Jinki," Key said through a mouthful.

Jinki nodded. "You're welcome."

"So, after breakfast," Key swallowed, and his words became clearer. "I was hoping that I could go see Taemin and get Comme Des, and then after I could take you to Kris?"

"he like the president or something?"

Key shrugged. "Mayor, sheriff, president, king, I don't know. He's really cool. Nice guy, just don't piss him off. He looks like a helpless pretty boy but he could shoot the nuts off a fly from a hundred feet."

Jinki burst into giggles, setting his plate on the table so he didn't drop it as he tossed his head back. Key smiled at his reaction. "It's not really funny Jink," He said, laughing softly as Jinki snorted. "Oh my god, what's wrong with you?"

Jinki pressed his hand over his stomach and took deep breathes in. "oh my god Key, that's so fucking funny,"

Key smirked and shook his head. "You're dumb." He shoved another chunk of meat into his mouth.

"Yeah," Jinki said, taking another bite of meat. "so i've heard."

"So," Key started, swallowing the food in his mouth. "You really do wanna stay here?"

Jinki nodded. "Yeah,"

"With me?" Key asked, clarifying.

Another nod. "If you don't mind."

"Of course not," Key said, his thick lips curling into a grin.

"Then, I will." Jinki said, smiling at Key.

Key felt an unfamiliar warmth flow through him. He wasn't sure what it was, but somehow he knew that Jinki felt it too. As he finished the last bit of his food, a thought entered his mind. The unfamiliar feeling in his chest, that pressed through his whole body, must be the burning warmth of love.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, I'm not super happy with the ending. But I know if I'm not gonna get it how I want it, so i'm posting it anyway. I might do drabbles of this later. Or I might just go make to my SHINee/Fallout crossovers, idk, i haven't decided yet.


End file.
